F1 heading to New Jersey

NEWS STORY22/10/2011

The United States looks set to have two Grands Prix from 2013 with an impending announcement that New Jersey is to host a round of the world championship.

As work continues on the Circuit of the Americas track in Austin which will host the United States Grand Prix from next year, it has been announced that a press conference is scheduled for Tuesday October 25 at which it will be announced that New Jersey is to host a race from 2013.

Late on Friday, several media outlets in the United States reported that Speed TV is to interrupt its regular schedule on Tuesday in order to "bring audiences live coverage of a special announcement regarding the future of Formula One Grand Prix racing in the United States".

It is expected that that this announcement refers to official confirmation that F1 cars will race in America with the Manhattan skyline as the backdrop, the inaugural 2013 event likely to be paired with the Canadian Grand Prix.

It's not the first time that New Jersey has been touted as the host of a Grand Prix with Bernie Ecclestone making noises about his desire for a race on the streets of New York, or somewhere close, for as long as anyone can remember.

It's understood that the driving force behind the new event is former cable network TV head Leo Hindery Jr, managing partner of InterMedia Partners, a New York-based media industry private equity fund, and until 2004, chairman and CEO of The YES Network, the nation's largest regional sports network which he founded in 2001.

A keen race fan, Hindery has competed at Le Mans on a number of occasions and also contested the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. He is married to Speed TV executive Patti Wheeler, the daughter of former Speedway Motorsports Inc. executive Humpy Wheeler.

The press conference will take place at Port Imperial in Weehawken just two months after it was revealed that Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner and West New York Mayor Dr. Felix Roque both confirmed meeting a number of potential investors, including Hindery, regarding the possibility of a New Jersey event.

It is unclear at this time what the New Jersey event might be titled, however, it cannot be the United States Grand Prix as this is the event scheduled for Austin.